Welcome back to #TravelThursday. If you’re familiar with my social media work for the Sebring Historical Society – then you may remember a recent #HistoryTuesday Facebook post where I wrote about one of our true gems here in the Sebring Florida area – the 9,000+ acre Highlands Hammock State Park – established during the 1930s by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). I promoted their upcoming (at the time) 8TH Annual Earth Day Festival. Due to another scheduled event on the same day at the same time – I was unable to attend the Festival. It looked like a fun day out there at the park with some very interesting special guest speakers.
The following day on the Sebring Historical Society Facebook page I wrote about the historic CCC Museum inside Highlands Hammock State Park, and I included a photo of the building that I took on my last visit in February 2023. I visited the museum 4 times as a tourist – in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2023. During those 3 earlier visits I had envisioned myself serving at the CCC Museum as a docent. By 2023 – I had already committed to serving with the Sebring Historical Society in the same capacity. I don’t regret my decision at all.
Earlier that same week my Pastor took his family to Highlands Hammock State Park, and he posted some nice photos on his Facebook page. A couple of days later one of our members at the Sebring Historical Society told us all about her fun trip to the park with her husband and their daughter visiting from up north. They took the tram tour, and they had a wonderful time on it.
And that got me wondering. Why have I not even visited the park once since I’ve lived here over the past 3 years and 1 month ?
Well the answer is quite simple. The Sebring Historical Society keeps me busy. As does my home church. As does my home and neighborhood.
Anyway I got excited about visiting Highlands Hammock State Park for the first time as a local. (The park attracts up to 200,000 visitors annually, and I’m guessing that more than half are tourists from outside of the local area.)
I planned my day at the park. I’d leave home by 9 AM, arrive at the park 20 minutes later, pay my $4 admission at the gate, head straight for the Camp Store, buy my $15 ticket for the 11 AM tram tour, and then head over to the CCC Museum to check it out for a good solid hour until about 15 minutes before the start of the tram tour. After the approximately 1-hour and 15-minute tram tour I’d drive the 3-mile-plus / one-way Loop Drive through the park and stop at one of the trails that I’m not sure I’ve previously been on.
That was the plan alright. Let’s go !
So I went on a Friday 4 weeks ago. I arrived at the empty parking lot of the Camp Store, and (luckily) it was open. I walked in, and I asked about the 11 AM tram tour. I figured that the guy behind the counter would tell me that I was the first person to sign-up for it, and if he didn’t get a minimum of (whatever number) to sign-up for it then it would be cancelled. That’s not what he told me. He told me that it was sold out !
I’m silently thinking – how can it be sold out when I’m the only visitor within eyesight ? From what I understood – you can’t sign-up for the tram tour until the same day. (I later discovered that you can sign-up one day prior. Had I known that then I would’ve signed-up one day prior !)
He said that he’d be adding an additional 1 PM tram tour, but I declined. I couldn’t see myself being at the park until 1 PM. I looked around the Camp Store for a few minutes. They actually have some very nice souvenirs there. I actually wish that we sold some of those souvenirs in our own gift shop at the Sebring Historical Society. #MentalNotes
I went out to my car to plot my next move – since the CCC Museum was still closed until 10 AM. (They had recently switched from their 9 AM to 5 PM winter “peak season” hours to their 10 AM to 2 PM weekends-only – including Fridays – “low season” hours.)
My next move is revealed – next – #TravelThursday. And speaking of moves – what was that wild creature that ran right in front of me ? Let’s keep traveling together.
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